SurfaceTale
by anipwrites
Summary: Frisk and their monster friends have finally arrived on the Surface! They're all ready to start a new life with their friends and family, find jobs, and just enjoy what life has to offer for them! But not everyone is as accepting of monsters as Frisk. Hints of Soriel. UndyneXAlphys. Floweypot AU.
1. Chapter 1

Welcome to SurfaceTale! I'm really glad you decided to read our story.

So basically, this story is about what we think would happen after the True Pacifist ending, when everyone goes to the surface. There's also Floweypot AU in here. There may also be hints of Soriel, and there's definitely AlphysXUndyne.

I'm working on this story with my friend. You can find her on Tumblr as 105ttt.

I hope you all enjoy our story! Feel free to like, favorite, or leave constructive criticism or anything else that's not flaming.

- **anipwrites**

* * *

Chapter 1

Toriel sat at the table in the dining room, frowning slightly at the papers before her. She wasn't angry, per say. She was just deep in thought. Is this what the curriculum of schools on the surface required? This wasn't near anything that she had in mind when she dreamed of starting a school and being the teacher. Granted, she had originally imagined the school being in the Underground… and she probably wouldn't've been able to just teach snail facts all year. But at this rate, she'd be learning at the same pace as her students. There were so many different things on the surface, so many things to learn…

But everything would be fine, she reassured herself. She could do this. It was her dream! Granted, it would be a lot of work, running the school _and_ teaching a class, but it could be done. Right?

Of course it could be done. She wasn't entirely alone in this endeavor. After all, Frisk was now living with her, and they knew exactly how to encourage her when she needed it. Just having them around gave her more willpower and confidence than ever. Yes. She could do this. It would all be fine.

In fact, here came Frisk right now. Toriel turned and smiled at her child, masking her frustrations at the curriculum. "Yes, dear? How are you doing?"

"I'm doing good, Mom!" they replied, sitting across from me. But deep inside, Toriel knew they were lying. Should she press for the truth?

"How was your day today? Did you get to meet all of your neighbors?"

"I… nobody wanted to talk to me, Mom… so I just hung out with Sans and Papyrus instead!" they quickly added the last part in, hoping Toriel wouldn't get too upset.

Needless to say, Toriel got upset.

"Why wouldn't any of those kids talk to you? They seemed nice. A bit shy, but…"

"Well, they _wanted_ to talk to me. But their parents wouldn't let them. Said something about monster sicknesses and freaks. Am I a freak, mom?" Toriel frowned noticeably, picked up Frisk, and held them close.

"You're not a freak, my child. Their parents… they just don't exactly like Monsters living on the surface."

"But you haven't been on the surface in, like, a _bajillion years!_ "

"And they're still trying to get used to us. Don't worry about them. They don't mean to offend you directly, they mean to offend us."

"But… Why? If they just talked to you, they'd know you were nice… All the monsters are nice if you just talk to them!"

"We know. It'll just take a little getting used to us being here. Now, what would you like for dinner, my dear?"

"Actually, Mom, we already had plans to go out to dinner, remember?"

Toriel was flustered. She had entirely forgotten.

"Yes, that's right! I can't believe I had forgotten. It's still a new sort of concept to me, 'going out for dinner'… I'm used to cooking all of my food myself."

"I know, Mom. I think you will like eating out sometimes, though! It can be fun! You get to talk with your friends without having to focus on cooking, and then you get to eat, and then you feel full, and then you want to sleep, and then you all laugh about it, and…"

Frisk's voice trailed off. They were looking eagerly at the door to Toriel's home, wanting to leave so that they could see their friends as soon as possible.

"Well, perhaps we should check if everyone is ready before we head out, Frisk."

"Huh? You knew I wanted to leave?"

"Nothing gets past me, my child. Your eyes were locked on to the door."

Toriel chuckled and gave Frisk a smile. She then pulled out her cell phone and began texting various people whom she figured would be at dinner with them later. Meanwhile, she spotted Frisk fidgeting with their striped shirt. They were a bit embarrassed now, too.

"Should we bring Flowey, too? I don't know if he eats, but… he might like going out of the house for a bit."

"I'm not sure if we should, dear. He doesn't exactly have the best manners…"

"I'll make sure he behaves."

"If you're certain…"

"I'll go get him!" Frisk exclaimed, running to their room and coming back with a flower pot. Flowey seemed a bit drowsy, as if he was asleep before. Probably explained why Toriel hadn't heard him yelling for some time.

"Where are we going?" the flower asked, looking from side-to-side. Frisk giggled at the sight. Rarely did one see Flowey confused, and it was actually a little cute.

"We're going out to eat!"

"So, outside? Finally! That stupid window was getting pretty boring."

"But promise me you'll behave, okay?"

Flowey sighed.

"Sure, sure. Anything for you."

"Thank you!"

Frisk clutched the flower pot close to their chest, trying to give Flowey a hug. Flowey rolled his eyes, but smiled when he knew nobody could see his face.

"Alright, let's go, you two!" Toriel said, heading out the door. Frisk followed, carrying Flowey. It was kind of hard to hold onto his pot all the time, and the sides were a bit slick.

"Hey! Don't drop me!" he shouted, glaring at Frisk.

"Sorry! We're going to have to find a better way to carry you around eventually. Maybe we can put handles on your pot!"

"As long as you don't drop me and I don't look ridiculous, I'm fine with it."

"We can do it tomorrow!"

Toriel's phone buzzed right then. A message from Papyrus had been delivered.

' _We literally live across the street from you! Why are you texting us?'_

Toriel giggled a bit, She couldn't help but imagine him saying it in his voice. That was the fun in texting! Another buzz.

' _Yeah, sure, I'd love to eat something other than spaghetti. It's great, but after every day, y'know. What time?'_ It was Sans texting this time. Toriel smiled and started typing.

' _We're outside, if you'd like to walk over with us.'_ She reread her message before sending it to the two skeletons. Another buzz.

' _Ooh, a dinner party! I'll snag Alphys up and we'll meet you there! Which restaurant?'_ Undyne asked after Toriel had sent word of their dinner plans to her. Toriel hesitated. Which restaurant _were_ they going to?

' _We were just planning to walk around until we found something interesting, if you don't mind.'_

' _It's cool with me! I'll meet you on Main Street!_ ' Undyne responded. Toriel was glad to see how agreeable everyone was today.

Toriel looked up to see Sans and Papyrus crossing the street just as she finished reading Undyne's text.

"Hello there, you two."

"Alright, let's go get some spaghetti!" Papyrus declared, rubbing his hands together as if plotting some sort of scheme. Just the thought of it gave him a huge grin, despite the fact that he always spaghetti at home anyway.

"Actually, Papyrus, I was thinking we all needed a change of scenery, as far as food goes. We were just going to meet some of the others on Main Street and explore until we find a place that looked interesting. If you don't mind, that is."

"Cool. Sounds fun." Sans nodded. Toriel's phone buzzed again. It was Asgore. Frisk had told her to tell him about the dinner party as well, though she begrudged it a little.

' _If you don't mind, I'd like to come also.'_ He had sent. Toriel really did mind, but she knew Frisk really wanted to see him and decided she could stand the man for an hour or so as long as Frisk was happy.

' _You may come.'_ She sent back. _'But don't bring your trident this time. Last time you scared everyone, and we'd rather not have everyone scared of us.'_

' _Alright, I'll leave it home.'_

' _Ooh, a dinner party! May I come too? I know I can't actually eat anything, but I'd just LOVE to see my little Frisky again!_ ' Mettaton sent. He had been away on a tour with his band for quite a while.

' _Of course you can come! And feel free to come over to our house any time to see them.'_

"Onwards, Papyrus!" A small voice beckoned.

Toriel looked up to see that Frisk was now sitting on Papyrus' shoulders, chanting and pointing triumphantly towards the distant horizon.

"To food!" Frisk called out again.

"To glory!"

"To Main Street!"

"Uh, guys? Main street is that way." Sans pointed out, gesturing in the other direction. Papyrus turned dramatically shortly before running off, and then upwards into the sky. That was concerning.

"I've got a feeling that ain't gonna end well," Flowey stated, watching as the human and skeleton levitated up into the air.

"He'll come back down. He's just messing around with them. What can I say? When those two are around-"

"Don't you _dare_." Flowey said through gritted teeth, looking annoyed already.

"The excitement goes _sky high._ "

"I hate you." Both Flowey and Toriel stated monotonously.

"You know you loved it."

"Somebody just pick me up so we can get going. _Not you._ " Flowey said, snarling at Sans when he reached over. "Anybody but you."

"Here." Toriel offered, picking up the flower pot. The three of them went towards Main Street, keeping an eye on the sky for Frisk and Papyrus.

When they got to Main Street, the pair was already there, along with the others. Asgore, Alphys and Undyne were talking about something, while Mettaton played with Frisk and sat them on his shoulders. Napstablook hung around, listening to music.

"Hey, everybody." Sans greeted. "Ready to go exploring?"

"You bet I am!" Undyne exclaimed, pumping her fists.

"I'm always ready for an adventure!" Papyrus added, imitating Undyne's excited gestures.

Toriel couldn't help but notice a few people nearby wince, parents drawing their children away from the small group. None of the others seemed to notice-if they did, they didn't care. That is, until they were interrupted.

"Hey! Those monsters kidnapped that little kid!" A woman in the vicinity shouted. Everyone turned and suddenly seemed to recognize how set off the other humans were by them. But they'd have to deal with the current accusation at hand. Especially when the woman stomped over with an officer who was nearby.

"Actually, ma'am, Frisk here is with us." Asgore said. "We're their adoptive family. I-If you don't mind, we were just going to go out for dinner."

"Yeah, sure you are! What's the dinner going to be? The _kid_? No self-respecting adoption agency would _ever_ let some poor orphan out at the mercy of monsters!" The officer said with a frown.

"They aren't going to eat me!" Frisk shouted. "They're my friends! And my family! They treat me nicer than any human has! Ever!"

"So, you brainwashed the poor kid?"

"How the _hell_ would we do that?!" Flowey interjected. The humans gasped.

"Flowey. Language." Toriel scolded. Frisk climbed down from Mettaton's shoulders to go calm down Sans, whose left eye was glowing blue. Papyrus's mouth was curved into a nervous smile.

"Look. The only person I can trust here is the robot, and even _he_ was made by a monster! I'm going to need you to show proof." The policeman interjected, holding out his hand to get the expected papers.

"Okay, here!" Frisk went over to the officer and showed him their school ID. "Frisk Dreemurr! Asgore Dreemurr is my dad, and Toriel Dreemurr is my mom! We left the adoption papers at home, but we _do_ have them! I fell into the Underground and each and every monster I met treated me kindly, even if they were scared of me! They were really sad underground, and most humans who came there tried to hurt them! I helped them find a way to leave! Because they wanted to leave! So they could be happy! And now you all are being mean to my new family because they're different from you! And that's really stu-not nice! Can we please just go out to eat?!"

When Frisk had finished talking, they wiped a tear from their face and breathed a bit faster than usual. They had shouted the whole thing. The crowd of people was taken aback. The policeman spoke up when Frisk's breathing was normal again.

"Gee, kid, you really got emotional there… Are you feeling okay? These monsters really tricked you bad if you feel so strongly about them. Maybe you should come with me, I can-"

He had offered his hand out to Frisk as a friendly gesture, but Frisk pushed it back to the policeman's side and walked back to the group of monsters.

"I don't want to go with you. I want to go with them. Please. They won't hurt me. Just let us be."

Everyone was quiet.

"Awkward, huh?" Sans said, trying to break the silence. It didn't help much.

"If I may," Toriel started, trying to act as polite as possible, "I have legal custody of this child, and I would give my life to keep them safe. Please. I don't know how much credibility my words have to you all, but I mean what I say."

"Y-yeah, we don't want to e-eat them. Just, uh… h-hang out with them. We really don't m-mean any harm." Alphys tried her best to defend Toriel's position.

"… Kid. For the last time, come with me," the policeman demanded. Frisk shook their head, then clutched onto Asgore's left hand as tightly as they could.

"Look at them. They're comfortable enough with me to get this close. Isn't that proof enough?" Asgore queried, his voice a little quiet.

"Maybe you're forcing them to act that way! I bet you promised them something if they would stay quiet about it! You-"

The woman who had originally called out the monsters put up her hand to silence the other person.

"No, look at the mother's eyes. I know those eyes. She wants to protect the child from being taken away. Look at the father's face. He's distressed. I understand why they look that way. As a single mother myself, it's only natural."

"Ma'am?" The policeman turned to her now.

"Let them be for now."

"Are you sure that's a good idea? They-"

"Are the child's family." The woman asserted without a hint of doubt.

"… If you say so. Everyone, move along. Nothing to see here."

The crowd slowly disbanded after that. When the street had reverted back to its original state, every monster in the group breathed out in relief.

"What is up with those people? How rude can you be?" Undyne asked. She was still ticked off.

Flowey nodded. "If I had some arms, I would've taught them a lesson."

Frisk shooshed them both. They didn't want something to start again. "Let's get going! Asgore! Up!"

Asgore smiled gently and picked them up before putting them on his shoulders. They played with his horns as they continued along. There was an awkward silence amongst the group. Everyone was chilled to the bone by how quickly they could've had Frisk taken away from them, documents or not. It was worrisome.

"How does this one look?" Toriel asked, looking up at a restaurant sign.

"Too fancy. Not my style." Undyne said.

"Perfect! Let's go in!" Mettaton exclaimed, heading inside. Undyne grumbled but followed nevertheless, Alphys tagging along behind her. The others shrugged and followed.

"Dad! Wait!" Frisk shouted, making Asgore stop in his tracks. "You're too tall."

"What do you mean, child?" The monster asked.

"Your horns are too tall. I'll get off and you can duck." Frisk said, sliding down Asgore's back. He ducked down and went into the restaurant, looking around.

Undyne was right. It was quite a fancy establishment. A low-hanging chandelier illuminated the room, which was dim otherwise. Each table had a candle and a rose in the center. There was a larger table in the center that the waitress seated them at. Everyone sat down and the waitress left. Toriel noticed that she headed to the back of the restaurant instead of to the front to greet more customers. The dining hall seemed to grow silent once people realized there were monsters in the room.

Frisk set Flowey on the table by them before picking up the menu and reading through it. They didn't really know what anything on the menu was-oh, look, the kids menu!

Before any of the others could read through the menu, a different waiter came up to them. "Hi, my name is Brian, and I'll be your server for today! May I interest you in the special of the day?"

"Well, wh-what is the special of the day?" Alphys asked, twiddling her fingers.

"Well, we have a lovely chevon dish." Toriel and Asgore stiffened noticeably. Flowey's eyes widened in surprise.

"O-on second thought, I'm suddenly not hungry." Toriel murmured, glancing off to the side. Asgore's face was red.

"Well then, perhaps I can interest you in the catch of the day: fresh wild tilapia." The waiter offered. Flowey narrowed his eyes. He had a feeling this guy was just trying to scare them off.

Either way, it was working.

"That's it, I knew there was something wrong with this place!" Undyne proclaimed, standing up and stomping out of the building. Alphys hesitated and then immediately scurried after her. Mettaton knew Alphys wouldn't handle this well, and left with her.

"I… Excuse me," Asgore said before following them hurriedly. Toriel, for once, seemed to agree with Asgore and follow after him immediately. Unfortunately, Asgore forgot to duck and his horns smacked into the doorframe, making him fall backwards as he lost his balance. The patrons of the restaurant laughed at him as Toriel helped him back up, and they left. Only the two skeletons, the human, and the flower in a pot were left.

"Come on, let's just go." Papyrus said. "I think I found a pizzeria near here a few days ago that you all would like."

"Works for me, bro." Sans agreed, standing. Frisk followed them out, accidentally leaving Flowey in the restaurant alone.

"... Well, well, well. I'm sure you all feel really proud of yourselves, huh?" He said, addressing the patrons of the restaurant. "You managed to scare off a couple of monsters by offering them your disgusting food and laughing at them. I know how it goes. Selfish! You're all selfish! You jerks can all just take a long walk through Mt. Ebott and fall into the Underground yourselves! Then let's see how _you_ like it down there! Try living in that hell of a place for millennia, why don't you?" The flower cackled, sending shivers down everyone's spine.

"Flowey!" Frisk exclaimed, bursting through the door and running back inside. They saw everyone's frightened and shocked faces and frowned at the flower before them. "Were you misbehaving?"

"Maybe,"

"Flowey. Apologize, or I'll pick your petals off."

"But they were-"

" _Flowey,_ "

"Fine! Fine. I'm sorry you idiots are all so pathetic that you can't give people a chance."

" _Flowey…_ " Frisk warned, putting two fingers on one of his petals. The flower winced.

"Okay, okay, I'm sorry for yelling at you! Please don't pick my petals off…"

"Thank you for apologizing. Now, let's go." Frisk picked up the flower pot and left the restaurant.

"You wouldn't have picked my petals off, Frisk! Uh… right?"

"Don't misbehave, alright?"

Flowey swallowed nervously but nodded. Frisk smiled and ran to catch up to the others.

"So…. now what do we do...?" Napstablook asked. He hadn't been inside with them. He was too busy listening to his music.

"Worry not, friends! Follow me!" Papyrus exclaimed. Next thing anyone knew, he was off like a bullet.

"Papyrus, Papyrus." Sans said, following him casually. The rest of the group followed a bit more hurriedly. They didn't want him to get into any trouble.

Frisk, unfortunately, could not run very fast. Their legs were rather short, and they didn't quite have the stamina to keep up. Napstablook stayed behind with them until Mettaton came by to pick them up. Then, the three of them caught up with the rest of the group.

They finally arrived at a place called the Pizza-Pie Palace. Toriel seemed thrilled at the mention of pie until she was reminded that 'pie' could also mean 'pizza'. Papyrus was in front of the door, making dramatic gestures.

"Here we are! Pizza-Pie Palace!" he said with a smile. "I, the Great Papyrus, have found us food!"

"Great job, Pap!' Undyne said, heading inside. Mettaton didn't seem to be looking forward to greasy fingers and the medieval charade the place seemed to be putting on, but he could deal with it for a little while.

When they walked inside, they were led to a long table with plastic swords and paper crowns on it. Frisk was overjoyed and immediately put two crowns on Asgore and Toriel's heads. Undyne and Papyrus were already goofing off with the toy swords, while Napstablook and Sans explored the restaurant. There was a play zone with a fake dragon and knights' armor to mess around with. Sans decided to put some on. He looked great. Maybe.

Toriel smiled at the sight of everyone enjoying themselves and sat down at the table, looking over the menu. Maybe she could just order several large pizzas. Yeah, everyone should be fine with cheese. Or, if they weren't, they'd hopefully come soon and order their own pizza.

And eventually, everyone did congregate around the table to decide what pizza they wanted. The servers gladly took their order and went to the back to get the pizza made. Everyone was quite shocked at how courteous the staff at the pizzeria had been so far.

"Great find with this place, Pap!" Sans said, nudging his brother with his elbow. "People actually treat us nice here."

"Yeah. I guess the surface isn't too bad after all." Undyne nodded, looking around.

"I r-really hope the pizza's good…" Alphys murmured with a nervous smile.

"I think I see the pizza coming right now…" Mettaton said, peering over her head to look towards the kitchen. Five servers were coming out with the pizzas and drinks. Some of them were even monsters! Toriel couldn't help but smile, seeing that other monsters were getting along okay.

"Is this everything, ma'am?" a waitress asked. Everyone nodded yes and they went on their way to the next order. Frisk was hopping up and down excitedly, ready to eat. The large family started fixing their plates before they ate.

The pizza _was_ really good.

* * *

After they finished eating, everyone split up to do whatever. Mettaton, Sans, and Papyrus stayed and goofed off at the pizzeria until it closed. The children of the other restaurant patrons were thrilled to play with them, and seemed to have fun defeating dragons and having legendary adventures; even if it was just their imagination. Mettaton made a very good damsel-in-distress, and graciously thanked the children for his rescue when the adventures were nearly over. Undyne and Alphys went off on their own to have a night on the town almost as soon as they finished eating. It would be their second date on the surface, and they couldn't be any more excited. Napstablook hung out with Frisk at the table for a little while longer before they decided it would be best if they went home, calling Mettaton back over and then leaving with him. Frisk, of course, said goodbye to them first by giving Mettaton the hugest hug they could muster and giving a high-five to Napstablook. The spirit didn't have an arm to return it. Asgore left around the same time Undyne did, headed back home. He claimed he had a lot of work tomorrow, but he also seemed to be a bit down. Frisk did what they could to cheer him up, but nothing seemed to truly work. They just couldn't figure out why Asgore was acting that way. They hoped for the best, though, and knew that things would be resolved nicely, one way or another. Sooner or later, Toriel decided it was around time Frisk went home for the night and left after bidding Sans and Papyrus goodbye. As soon as they were out of the excited buzz of the restaurant, Frisk started getting a bit drowsy. Toriel picked them up while they held Flowey close to their chest and carried them all the way home. She would tuck them in right away.

"Good night, my child." Toriel whispered as she kissed their forehead before gently closing the door to Frisk's room and leaving. It was about time she went to bed herself; she could familiarize herself with the curriculum tomorrow.

Then she realized Flowey was still on the dining room table. Toriel walked over and picked up his pot before carrying him back to his spot on Frisk's windowsill. He was a bit tired himself.

"Hey… Toriel? Thanks for letting me stay here…" he yawned, head hanging low. Toriel smiled and stroked one of his petals.

"It's my pleasure. Just don't get into too much trouble." she said. "Good night, Flowey." At that, she left the room. Flowey yawned again, slipping into sleep.

"G'night, mom…"

* * *

Expect more chapter soon! I hope you all liked it!

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Follow my friend who worked on this story with me at .com

Feel free to favorite, follow, like, comment, or review! I hope you guys all have a nice day!


	2. Chapter 2

So! It appears as if a lot of people have read and enjoyed the first chapter so far! And I'm really glad about that!

But there has also been one complaint about how we were portraying the humans as if they were acting unreasonable instead of reasonably being scared of monsters who killed six kids and have magic powers. And, to be honest, humans are stronger than monsters in canon, so it's probably not a thing a lot of them will be concerned about. Not a single human died in the Human-Monster war. However, we will get to the magic powers part eventually.

Meanwhile, I hope everyone enjoys the next segment of the story! I guess this could be considered a late Christmas present to some.

Feel free to like, favorite, or leave constructive criticism! And if you have any suggestions, we might take a few!

 **-anipwrites**

* * *

Chapter 2

Frisk woke up to the smell of pancakes and bacon. They smiled and sat up, stretching with a yawn. Light drifted into the darkened room through the blinds, also falling onto Flowey's sleeping form.

"Flowey!" Frisk whispered. The petals seemed to twitch just a moment before he woke up, looking at them.

"Yeah?" He asked.

"You smell that?"

Flowey's face shifted into an irritated glare.

"No, Frisk, I don't. I don't have a nose." He deadpanned.

"Oops. Sorry. Let's go get breakfast. Then I can fix your pot!" At that, Frisk grabbed the flower pot and carried it to the kitchen table.

In the kitchen, Toriel was making chocolate-chip pancakes and bacon for their breakfast. She smiled at the two as they came in and sat down. The pancakes were almost done, she had to remind Frisk several times. They certainly seemed excited today.

"Excited about the first day of school?" She asked. Frisk nodded.

"Wait. School? Am I supposed to attend, too?" Flowey shuddered.

"If you'd like. I won't force you. You would be home alone if you don't go, however."

"... Okay. I'll go."

"Are flowers allowed to go to school?" Frisk wondered aloud, looking down at their breakfast plate in thought.

"Everyone is allowed in my school, Frisk." Toriel answered, smiling at them as she slipped two pancakes and some bacon onto Frisk's plate. Frisk smiled and started eating.

"So, is the school for monsters _and_ humans? I know you said _everyone,_ but most humans have been quite rude to us so far-and that's if they weren't scared of us," Flowey asked.

"Well… Hopefully, me being a monster won't interfere with their education. I'll do the best I can to make sure no one is isolated or scared of me."

"And if their parents pull a stunt like that one lady did yesterday?"

"I…"

"Once they get to know Mom, they'll know she's really, reallynice!" Frisk interjected. Toriel smiled at them, thankful of their answer.

"Fair enough," Flowey concluded.

"Frisk, dear, I'll have to leave for school earlier than you. Would you like to come with me, or stay home and go later?" Toriel asked.

"Can I… Can I go with you until I make some friends?" Frisk murmured. Toriel was curious as to why they answered so quietly, but decided not to push them.

"Of course you can!"

"Thanks, Mom."

"Why don't you go ahead and start getting dressed? Unless you want to add anything- I've already packed your bag for you."

"Alright! Thank you!" Frisk said before they got up from the table to change into a different set of clothes.

It was only then that they realized they had fallen asleep in their clothes from the previous night. Toriel must've carried them back from the pizza parlor without waking them up. How sweet of her! They'd have to thank her later. For now-what to wear? Toriel had taken them shopping for school clothes a few days prior, and they now had several options. Perhaps just a t-shirt and jeans would suffice, and the boots-how could they not wear their favorite pair of boots? Looks like their outfit for today was complete! Now-to upgrade Flowey's pot!

Frisk headed down to the basement of the house to look for something. It was full of things from the previous owners of the house that had been left behind, along with some that Toriel and Frisk had brought with them. There wasn't much, really, but they did manage to find two curved rods of metal and some super glue! That should work just fine, as long as nobody touched the sharp parts. They ran back to the kitchen to start working on Flowey's pot when Toriel came back from her room.

"Frisk? I could finish that for you, if you'd like, while you go brush up," she offered.

Frisk nodded and ran back to the bathroom. They hadn't really had much time to decorate anything, especially the bathroom. It was kind of bland and sad. Granted, it was a bathroom, but it could still be fun! Maybe they could make some flowers to stick on the mirror! That would liven the room up a bit.

They'd have to save that for later. Right now, they had to brush their teeth, wash their face, and get ready for school! They put their shoes on the wrong feet, too. Oh, well. That can be fixed very easily. After that, all they would have to do was brush their hair. Then, they could decorate Flowey's pot with stickers.

Once they finished all of that, Frisk ran to the living room to find Toriel rounding out the sharp parts of the metal rods with some sort of tool. Maybe they should find something else to do until she was done…

By the time Toriel was done with the flowerpot and getting ready, she discovered that Frisk had found some sort of yoga channel on the TV and was following the teacher's movements. The Boss Monster smiled to herself before pulling Frisk out of the lesson to go to school. With a click of the TV and the jingling of a few keys, they were out the door-leaving Flowey on the kitchen table. A few seconds later, Frisk ran inside, grabbed Flowey off the table, and ran back outside.

Once they got back outside, they discovered Sans standing there, talking to Toriel. They were both smiling and laughing about something. Frisk set Flowey down by the door and ran to hug Sans.

"Sans!" they exclaimed, jumping up into his arms. Sans caught them and ruffled their hair.

"Hey, kiddo. I see you're jumping for joy about this whole 'first day of school thing', huh?" He remarked. Toriel and Frisk both giggled.

"Sans…"

"We were just about to head on over to the school. Would you like to come with us?" Toriel offered.

"Yeah, sure, I'd love to come along. Papyrus went to try and sign up for the military earlier this morning, so there's not really anything else to do," the skeleton shrugged.

"Alright! Let's get moving then."

"And don't forget me this time!" Flowey added. Frisk slid down from Sans' arms before going over to pick up his flowerpot. At that, they all started walking towards the school.

It was a ten minute walk, filled with Toriel and Sans exchanging bad knock-knock jokes and Flowey begging for someone to end his suffering. When they finally arrived, they bid each other goodbye before Sans continued walking. He had decided midway through the walk that he was going to explore the rest of the town-he might as well, since he was already out.

The school was impressively large. Apparently, it was also quite old. Toriel had spent quite a few days with some of the other teachers tidying things up and decorating their rooms, but the exterior hadn't been patched up quite yet. The bushes were wild and overgrown, all the flowerbeds dead, and the walls overcome with vines. Nobody knew just how to tackle that mess.

Except for Frisk.

"Why don't you get Dad to fix it! He's a gardener person now that works for some place… No, wait, he owns it! Wait. No, he doesn't. I can't remember what it's called! But, he works there! And he can fix it!" they offered, excited at the thought of seeing Asgore again in such a short period of time. Toriel thought about it a moment. She wasn't much of a fan of Asgore. At all. Still, she had to admit: he _was_ pretty good at gardening…

"You know what? Maybe I will ask him for some help," Toriel said with a nod of finality. "Let's get to our classes. Frisk, would you like me to walk you to your classroom, or would you like to sit outside?"

"Can I just sit outside?" Frisk asked quietly. Toriel nodded and gave them a final kiss on their forehead before going inside.

Frisk waited until Toriel was inside before picking Flowey up and sitting under a tree, leaning against its wide trunk. They sat with a quiet sigh and watched the cars pass by on the road. This was mildly confusing to Flowey. Frisk was usually so upbeat and happy-they were seven years old, after all. What could have brought them down so fast?

"Hey, kid. What's wrong?" the flower asked, looking up at them.

"It's gonna happen again…"

"What's gonna happen again?"

"Everyone's going to be mean to me because I'm not like them. They don't understand that I'm not a boy or a girl, and all of my monster friends are adults, too. Nobody will want to talk to me. I won't have any friends my age. Nobody will like me…" the child started sniffling, wiping their face and looking down at the ground. Flowey leaned over until he was in their line of sight.

"Frisk? You… You've been really nice to me, despite everything I've done to you and your family. So… I'll make sure nobody bullies you, okay? They'll have hell to pay otherwise," he said, glancing around to make sure nobody who could tease him about this was listening. Frisk smiled just barely but sighed.

"Flowey… It's okay. I'm used to it, really. It happens all the time. I don't want you hurting anyone for my sake."

"I won't physically hurt them. Besides, I'm sure _someone_ will be your friend this year other than me! You just wait! You're so nice, I'm sure this year will be great!"

"You really think so…?"

"Yeah!"

It was right then that a large, yellow school bus pulled into the lot. Frisk sat up in anticipation. Maybe someone they knew was being dropped off! If they already knew the person who was going to judge them, it would be easier to ignore them… right?

Luckily, they got something even better! They could see Monster Kid hopping off the bus steps with a messenger bag slung over their shoulder. Then, they noticed that the kid was upset. Frisk jumped to their feet and called out to them, waving their arms and jumping up and down.

"Hey! Kid! It's me, Frisk! Come sit with me!" they called out.

Monster Kid turned around and smiled, running over. They nearly tripped but just barely caught their balance.

"Yo, Frisk! Are you doing okay?" they asked, hopping around excitedly.

"Yeah! How about you?"

"I'm… I don't know. The kids on the bus were really mean to me…"

"Oh… Well… I'm scared the other kids will be mean to me, too…"

"But, why would they? You're the best! You're really nice!"

"That's the problem. But, it's okay! We're friends who have each other, right?"

"Yeah! Who's your teacher?"

"Miss Annie…?"

"Sweet! Mine too!"

They both cheered and talked a bit longer about how excited they were about their first day of school. Frisk managed to properly introduce Flowey to Monster Kid-who didn't seem to remember how Flowey had temporarily taken their soul as well as the souls of almost all of the monsters-and they messed around a bit longer before the bell to begin school rang out loud and clearly in the air.

"Let's go inside and meet the teacher!" Monster Kid said excitedly. Frisk picked up Flowey's pot before stashing it inside their backpack, and they rushed inside.

There were actually a lot of humans at the school. It had been taken over by Toriel after the previous principal quit. Before, it was basically up for grabs. Some people were curious as to how a monster would manage a school of humans; others hadn't even known that a monster was teaching there now, let alone acting as the principal. Several human kids, once they had found out, were calling their parents to let them know-some even begging to be picked up. Frisk sighed. They weren't even going to give Toriel a chance?

Nevertheless, Frisk and Monster Kid got to class and sat down in two seats that were not too far apart but not too close. Other kids were in the class, looking around the room curiously. There were a few monsters, but the humans didn't seem to care much. The teacher, however, seemed thoroughly disgruntled. When the bell rang to begin class, she stood up and paced in the front of a room, a ruler in one hand and a clipboard in the other. Her curly red hair was up in a bun, and she was wearing a red and white polka-dotted dress with her red cat-eye glasses.

"Alright, class! I am Miss Annie. Before we get started, I want to inform you that I won't tolerate any trouble from you _monsters_ who appear to have infested the school," she glared at every single monster in the class individually, her thin, lipstick-covered lips curled into a frown. They squirmed in their seats uncomfortably. Frisk wasn't quite sure what to do. "Now, then… Onto attendance."

As she peered down at her clipboard through her red cat-eye glasses, she started calling out names. A twinge of fear shot up Frisk's spine. Was it going to have their legal name or their chosen name on the clipboard? Had Toriel changed it for them? What would they do if it was their legal name? What would the teacher do if they corrected her? Oh, gee…

"Frisk Dreemurr?"

Frisk hesitated before letting out a sigh of relief and raising their hand. The teacher continued her eternal scowl as she called the rest of the roll. When she was finished, she started walking down the rows of desks.

"Alright, you little twerps. I expect no trouble out of any of you. If nothing else, you will walk out of this room with some manners and a respect for your authority figures. Is that clear?" Everyone nodded. She seemed satisfied with that response and started handing out sheets of paper.

It was a standard "let me get to know you" sheet. Frisk read the paper over a few times, trying to piece everything on it together. There were blank spaces for the students to write in answers.

"My name is _!"

"My hobbies include _, _, and _."

"I love my family! I have a mom named _, a dad named _, and a pet named _."

One of the kids in the classroom raised their hand. Miss Annie, who was now seated at her desk in the front of the class, nodded her head to them.

"What if I don't have a dad, Miss Annie? What if I have two moms? What do I put on the paper?"

Another kid joined in.

"Yeah! I don't have a pet. What should I write?"

Miss Annie sighed, then answered, "Just leave it blank or cross out incorrect words and write the correct ones above them. That should be obvious. I hope you all aren't foolish enough that I have to explain such things."

The children then stayed silent as they finished writing in the information on their papers.

Frisk thought about their own family. Toriel was their mom, and Asgore was their dad, but what about their pet? Could Flowey be considered a pet? It was as close to a pet as Frisk was going to get, so they wrote "Flowey" above the blank for their pet's name. When they reread what they had wrote, they let out a small chuckle. This caught the attention of Miss Annie, who gave Frisk a glare. It made them feel a little bit uncomfortable.

After a few minutes, Miss Annie told the children to raise their hands if they were finished. Most kids did so-except for Monster Kid, who was struggling to write. Because of their lack of arms, they had to use a tool that they held in their mouth which held a pencil on the end. Then, they had to make minute movements with their head in order to write. When Miss Annie saw that they hadn't finished, she rose from her seat and walked over to Monster Kid's desk. The monster was so focused on the task at hand that they only stopped their work when Miss Annie slammed a ruler on their table, causing them to wince and drop the tool out of their mouth.

"What do you think you're doing?"

"I… I was just filling out the paper, Miss Annie."

"Where is your pencil?"

"It's right there," Monster Kid replied, nodding towards the pencil which was now lying inside the writing tool that had fallen onto their desk.

"Why do you have it inside that toy?"

"Toy? It isn't a toy, Miss Annie, it's-"

"Yes, it is. You are wasting time using it. Use your arms."

"Kid doesn't have any arms, Miss Annie," Frisk explained.

Monster Kid gasped, but didn't dare move in case they broke their eye contact with the teacher. The teacher, meanwhile, moved away from their desk and walked over to Frisk.

"Of course that _thing_ has arms. All monsters have arms. They all probably have at least four arms, seeing as they're nothing but mutant freaks."

Frisk felt like the classroom was shrinking. Miss Annie was hunched over them, and her voice rebounded in their mind. A million eyeballs were fixated on them. Nonetheless, they weren't going to let any of those things stop them from defending their friend. Monster Kid had a valid reason to be a bit delayed, and Frisk was going to get that point across no matter what.

"But, Miss Annie, monsters aren't freaks, and Kid really doesn't have arms! Look at them!"

"They're just hiding their arms in their shirt."

"Do… do you see any arms inside their shirt?"

"No, I don't need to. I know that they're hiding their arms."

"But, you can't just say that! You have to have proof, Miss Annie."

"No, I don't. I'm the teacher. Now, shut up, and let me deal with that monster myself."

"Please, Miss Annie. Don't pick on them. They really are trying their best."

" _Dreemurr! Silence at once!_ "

"No!"

All of the children in the classroom gasped, and one kid almost fell out of their seat. Miss Annie's mouth was open in surprise, and her eyes were wide.

"What did you say. brat?"

"I said no! You're picking on Kid because they're not a human. That isn't right, Miss Annie! If you're going to be so mean to them and all of the other monsters for such a bad reason, then I… I… I'm going to have Mom fire you!"

More silence in the classroom. Then, almost disturbingly, Miss Annie cackled and slammed her hands down onto Frisk's desk. She was eye level with them, her pale, wrinkled face taking up their vision. They could smell the cigarettes in her breath, see the coffee staining her teeth. If they felt like it, they could count every wrinkle on her face-the crow's feet, the smile lines…

Smile lines? How did she have smile lines? Frisk couldn't imagine her ever smiling.

That was beside the point. They were being yelled at.

"Your freak of a mother fire _me_? That's ridiculous! This school is desperate-no, _dying_ for teachers, and I'm only here because it's a lucrative business. Gold doesn't grow on trees, but I can get some for myself by babysitting all of the sorry wretches in this classroom! I may as well try to shape you all into better, more honorable citizens of society by teaching you some etiquette while I'm here, but I see that selfish, unruly children like you are not going to yield so easily. And to think that it was a human that gave me the most trouble first before a monster! This is insufferable. I won't tolerate it."

"What are you going to do about it?" Frisk asked, a sense of confidence rising up within them from somewhere. They knew that talking that way to the teacher was rude, but they had feeling that luck was on their side this time.

"What I am going to do about it? I'll tell you what, twerp. I'm going to make all of the monster pests in this room suffer! They'll be given plenty more work than their human classmates, and they'll blame you for it. How is that, Dreemurr?"

As much as Frisk wanted to cry, they held it in. Miss Annie's face was a bright red, her mouth was curved into a menacing, toothy frown, and she was trembling slightly as if she was going to explode at any minute. Did Frisk let that stop them? Of course not. That confident feeling was growing stronger and stronger. They understood what the feeling was now, because they had felt it many times before. Knowing that they were the only voice for their monster classmates at this moment…

"That is enough, Miss Annie."

Frisk broke their focus on Miss Annie and quickly glanced at the doorway in the front of the classroom. When they recognized who was standing there, they couldn't hold back.

"Mom!"

"What? Miss Dreemurr?!" Miss Annie asked before whirling around to also spot her boss, who first smiled to her child and then frowned at the teacher.

"Miss Annie, I heard that you were planning on discriminating against the monster students in your class. You were talking with such emotion that I heard it very faintly down the hall and decided to listen in with the intercoms. Is this true? Am I mistaken, or is what I heard correct?"

"M-Miss Dreemurr, I assure you that-"

"She was being so mean, Mom! She was picking on Kid for not having arms, and then she was going to give only the monsters extra work!"

Miss Annie shushed them, but Toriel shook her head at her.

"Do not shush the child. This school is supposed to encourage free-thinking and the inner voice of every student through discovery. Besides, I already know how you've intimidated these poor, innocent children, Miss Annie. I'm afraid Frisk is right. I am going to have to have a talk with you in my office."

"A talk with you? You're pulling my leg, Miss Dreemurr."

"I am not. If you will not talk and come to a resolution, I am forced to relieve you of your position here at this school."

After Toriel had finished speaking, Miss Annie's hands were in fists. She stood straight up, bit her lip, and took a deep breath.

"All right. I understand. You monsters think you're entitled to be equal to humans. Well, I won't work in such an environment. I'm not so low-class as to think that I have to cooperate with you. I quit."

The redheaded instructor briskly walked over to her desk, retrieved her bags and other personal belongings, and then promptly left the classroom. Everyone watched nervously. As soon as she was gone and out of earshot, Toriel let out a huge sigh and put out her arms, which Frisk ran into. She also looked over to Monster Kid.

"You want me to come over there too, ma'am?"

"Yes, child."

Monster Kid was a bit hesitant, but then leaped off of their chair and slowly approached Toriel. She smiled at them and placed a gentle hand on their right shoulder as she crouched down to be eye level with both them and Frisk.

"Are you alright?"

"Yes, ma'am, now that you're here! You really saved the day! You were awesome!"

"I am glad to hear it."

"Is she gone for good, Mom?"

"Yes, child. It will be a bit difficult making sure I get a new teacher for your class that won't treat you all like she did, but I will try my best."

Toriel then stood up and looked around at the other students. Both humans and monsters alike were staring at her with curiosity. To ease them of any worry or distress they might have gotten from the recent happenings in the classroom, she spoke to everyone.

"Your education is my number one concern. I want you all to reach your highest potential. People like that woman, Miss Annie, who single you out for failure based on who you are, whether you are a human or monster, will not be allowed here. I promise that something like this will not happen again. This school is a safe place."

Some of the students smiled at her, while others clapped and cheered for her for getting rid of Miss Annie.

"Now then, it looks like your teacher is out, so your class is over for today. I suppose that this first day today will be a short one. I shall have a replacement teacher for you all by tomorrow. In the meantime, this class is dismissed. Be good, won't you?"

The children cheered, and then, before Toriel could move out the way, tiny bodies rushed by her feet out of the classroom door. Frisk and Monster Kid were the only ones remaining.

"Ma'am? Thank you very much," Monster Kid sincerely said to Toriel.

"You are always welcome, child. Now then, you should start heading home. I'm sure your parents will be pleased to see you home early."

"Actually, ma'am, I have to wait for my parents to pick me up after their work. They aren't going to be able to pick me up until about 3:00 PM... "

"I see. In that case, would you like to stay here with Frisk and I until your parents get here? We will have to stay here for a while. It would be a pleasure for you to join us."

Monster Kid couldn't believe it. Not only were they saved by both Frisk and the principal lady from that malicious teacher, but now they could play with Frisk for a few hours! What better way was there to start the school year than that? They started to excitedly dance in place, but then lost their balance and fell over. When they got themselves off of the ground, they grinned widely at Toriel and gave an answer.

"That sounds awesome! I would love to stay here with you and Frisk!"

Frisk smiled, and Toriel nodded to Monster Kid again.

"Then, it is settled. We shall all go to the office, and then we can… which expression do you kids you use? I believe it is 'hang out'?"

"Yep!" both the children replied. They hurriedly picked up their things from their seats, then ran back to Toriel.

With this, the three of them exited the classroom and walked to the office together. Frisk and Monster Kid were giggling and skipping gleefully the whole time down the hallway.

When the entourage arrived at the office, both Frisk and Monster Kid took a moment to look around and register what they saw. The reception desk sat in the front of the room, with two seats for two receptionists. Currently, the receptionists were one human and one monster. They waved at the two children and Toriel in greeting, but this was overshadowed by their blank expressions. Frisk assumed that they must have been working hard, and so they were too tired to greet the group energetically. That, or they weren't busy at all and bored because of it. Either way, Frisk secretly made a wish that the two of them would cheer up soon.

Behind the receptionists were filing cabinets, all arranged neatly in a row against the back wall. The cabinets seemed pretty tall to Frisk, and various file folders and papers were poking out from behind their closed drawers. When Frisk asked Toriel why it was so messy, she explained that the school did not have much to get ready for opening once she had taken over, so all of the files had been organized and hurriedly placed into the drawers. When Frisk offered to tidy up the drawers, she assured them that she could do it herself, and that she would do so later. For now, she directed the two students' attention to a hallway that cut into the wall to the left of the bookcases and made a 90 degree turn. Monster Kid spoke first.

"What does that hallway lead to?"

"That leads to my part of the office. It's a small room with a desk and two chairs to sit in. There is only one chair in the room besides the one I sit in behind my desk, but I can give up my seat for a while so that you both may sit down and rest."

Frisk would have none of that. Their mother deserved a rest in a comfortable chair after what she did for the students just now. It must have been difficult for her to keep her poise while Miss Annie looked close to snapping. They would let Monster Kid have the chair that was meant for students, and Toriel could sit in her principal chair.

"Mom, I can sit on the floor, or I can sit against the wall! It's okay with me! I want you to have some time to relax. Kid can sit in the other chair."

Right as Toriel opened her mouth to begin her objection to this idea, Monster Kid again was the first to speak.

"No way, dude! You can sit in the chair. I don't need one."

"Yes, you do, Kid! I want you to relax too! You had a rough time today."

"Hey, it's all gotten a million times better since you and your mother helped me out. I'll be fine, buddy! Trust me."

Frisk knew that Monster Kid was sincere in what they said, but they still felt that the monster deserved to rest in the chair more than they did. The only solution was to compromise.

"How about you take the chair that isn't behind the desk, and I'll sit with my mom in her chair?"

"That's alright with me!"

The children both bumped shoulders-their own version of a high five-and then dashed off towards the hallway in the back. Toriel followed them, delighted to see how well they got along.

In the principal's room, Monster Kid settled into a decently-sized wooden chair, which was for misbehaving students who got sent to the office. Meanwhile, Frisk and Toriel took the larger chair in the room that sat behind the principal's desk. Frisk couldn't help but wonder about the decorations in the room, so they perused their surroundings while Toriel began searching through a notebook on her desk for something.

On the wall on Frisk's right hung a few recent photos of their family and friends. In one photo, Sans was lifting both Frisk and Flowey with his blue magic, Frisk grinning ecstatically while Flowey's mouth was curled into a scowl. In another, Papyrus and Undyne were competing in an eating contest, food flying everywhere in the background and various patches of color staining the two's clothes. On the wall opposite of the desk, various certificates had been placed in frames and hung on the wall. They were too far away for Frisk to read them.

"Mom, what are those papers on the wall over there?" Frisk asked, pointing to them. Monster Kid turned their head to look at the wall behind them.

"Oh, those? They're called 'certificates', Frisk. Those are official papers that the government and the school system gave to me. They show that I own the school, and that it meets the requirements to function well."

"Were they expensive?"

"Well, monsters have a different currency than humans, so our money was worth a lot compared to what the humans use. I only have to pay for the property as well as a few other things, but soon the school system will pay for most things for me. The certificates were given to me by the school system as soon as it was ready to open again."

"That's very kind of them!"

"Yes, it is. Except…"

"What is it?"

"Nothing, child. Do not fret."

"Okay, if you say so."

"Yo, Miss Frisk's Mom! This is a neat room!"

"Why, thank you, Kid."

Monster Kid smiled, then looked at the notebook on Toriel's desk.

"7… 6… 8…"

"That's not how the numbers go, Kid! It's 6, 7, and then 8!"

"Oh, I wasn't counting! I was looking at the numbers inside that notebook. They're written in a weird order. Kind of like… phone numbers! Is that a phonebook, Miss Frisk's Mom?"

Toriel nodded. "Yes, it is. It's a phonebook filled with the phone numbers of all of my friends."

"Why are you looking through your friends' phone numbers, Mom?" Frisk poked the open pages of the phonebook, tracing each name and trying to read them.

"I'm looking for ideas for you and Kid's new teacher. I want to find a replacement as soon as possible…"

Toriel continued to flip through the phonebook. Monster Kid and Frisk watched, eager to read the names before each other. Eventually, one name caught Frisk's eye right after Kid said it.

"Alphys! You could hire Alphys, Mom!"

"Do you think she would make a good teacher? I don't know if she's qualified…"

"Well, I don't know what she would need to do to be qualified, but she could definitely be a teacher! She's smart and nice!"

"You make a point. I suppose I could ask her."

Monster Kid's face lit up.

"Alphys? Do you mean the former Royal Scientist, Alphys? She's my older cousin!"

"Wow, really? I had no idea you two were related, Kid! She's one of my best friends."

"Man, it would be _awesome_ if she could be my teacher! I would feel a lot safer in class if she were there."

"In that case," Toriel said before reaching for her cell phone, "I'll give her a call."

"Great!" Frisk cheered. They reached for their backpack, then retrieved Flowey from inside of it.

"Flowey! Did you hear that? Alphys is going to be my new teacher!"

"I didn't hear that, actually. The inside of your backpack is basically soundproof. All I heard was murmuring. What's going on? Does your class not have a teacher? Is that why you're not in class?" The flower answered before noticing Toriel and Monster Kid sitting around him. "Where are we?"

Toriel took Flowey from Frisk's hands and placed him on her desk in a decorative manner.

"This room is my part of the main office, Flowey. I have brought Frisk and Kid here with me because their class was let out early after their teacher quit. We are trying to find a replacement."

"Golly, the teacher left on the first day? That's rough. And it sure _looks_ like an office in here-bland and full of papers," Flowey snarkily gave his commentary.

"Flowey!"

Frisk reached over to pull at one of Flowey's petals, but Toriel stopped them.

"No, he's right. A teacher leaving so early is bad news for the school, and this office could use a little pizzazz. I was planning on decorating later, but I have no time for it this week."

"I can try decorating for you, Mom!"

"Yeah, me too, Miss!"

"No, it's okay. I shall do it myself Friday afternoon. Now, I am going to call Alphys and offer her the job. You all may stay in here, but it needs to be quiet. Can you manage that for me?"

Frisk and Monster Kid nodded while Flowey rolled his eyes. Toriel grinned at them, then dialed Alphys' number. After a few seconds of waiting while the phone rang, there was an answer.

"Alphys? Are you busy? It's Toriel. Hello to you, too! I was just calling to see if you were interested in taking up a teaching job at my school. Frisk's class needs a new teacher, and I have determined that you are one of the best candidates."

The kids were silently playing hand games to pass the time as Toriel negotiated with Alphys. Flowey let out a chuckle every time one of the children lost their focus or rhythm and stopped the continuous streak of the game. Then, when Frisk saw how left out Flowey was from the games, they pointed to his pot and then to their lap to show that they were offering to move him closer to the action. He shook his head to decline the offer. He wasn't about to be caught under a mess of rapidly-moving hands that could accidentally hit him and knock him out or remove a petal. Besides, even though he didn't want to show it, he was content with seeing Frisk so full of childish joy. Their mood had improved significantly from earlier in the morning. Nobody told him what had caused Frisk to feel better, but Flowey didn't care much about the specifics when he saw Frisk's eyes animated so brightly.

"Okay, then! I'll stop by your house later to drop off the application and the details of your job so that you'll be ready for tomorrow. Thank you so much, Alphys. Have a nice day! Goodbye," Toriel concluded her phone conversation. She sighed and leaned back in her chair before wiping her entire face with her hands.

"Well?" Flowey asked first. "How did it go?"

"She says that she is alright with teaching the class as long as I can offer her a good working schedule and a decent salary. Teachers are usually paid by the school system, but since she isn't properly qualified, I may have to pay her with a large portion of my own salary…"

Frisk raised an eyebrow. "What's a salary?"

"A 'salary' is the money someone gets paid for doing a job."

"Alphys can't get a salary from the school system because she isn't qualified?"

"No, I'm afraid she can't. I'm starting to wonder if I could get in trouble with the law if I let an unqualified teacher teach here…"

"Pfft. Alphys is a _genius_. I mean, look at me! She gave an inanimate object life. And what about Mettaton? His body is state-of-the-art and functions just like a real one. If that isn't enough proof that Alphys knows enough to teach a class-and a lower level class at that, then the school system is stupid," Flowey asserted.

"Flowey, the school system isn't stupid. But, yes, I do see your points. I suppose I can work out the details later. Honestly," Toriel giggled at what she was about to say next, "the people who make up the system are a bit too lazy to be watchful of anyone. Perhaps we can fit Alphys into the school without anyone taking note of it."

"Coolio! Are we going to go see her right now, Miss Frisk's Mom?" Monster Kid eagerly looked to the door that led back to the front of the main office. They couldn't wait to see their cousin again!

"We can't, Kid! We have to wait for your parents to pick you up, remember?" Frisk reminded them.

"Oh, yeah, you're right…"

"Do you know which parent is picking you up?" Toriel queried. She had an idea about what they could do to make sure it was okay to take Monster Kid with them.

"Well, my mom gets off of work before my dad, so it will probably be her."

"Do you know her phone number?"

"Yeah! Why?"

"We could give her a call and ask her if it is okay to take you over to see your cousin while she is still at work. If she knows that you are going to be under my supervision and that you will be visiting your family, she may be a bit more comfortable with letting you come along."

"That's a great idea!"

"In that case, could you please tell me her phone number?"

Monster Kid slowly recited the number back to Toriel. She started the call, then waited for the phone to stop ringing. When a voice came through the speaker, she and Monster Kid both took turns speaking to the child's mother. After about five minutes, they hung up.

"Alright, let's go!" Monster Kid exclaimed before hopping out of their chair. They walked over to the door of the room and turned back to everyone.

"Yay!" Frisk followed.

Toriel quickly stashed her phonebook into one of the drawers in her desk, then lifted Flowey off of his place and carried him in her arms. Strangely, it was really nice to Flowey whenever Toriel carried him. It reminded him of when he was still a young Boss Monster, when Toriel would carry him from wherever he was playing in New Home to his bedroom so that he could sleep…

When all four parties were ready, they left the room, then headed for the main entrance of the school. As they passed the receptionists, Frisk waved at the two energetically.

Both of them smiled.

* * *

Expect more chapters soon! I hope you guys are enjoying the story!

The next chapter will focus a bit more on Sans and Papyrus, if anyone was hoping for that.

Feel free to favorite, follow, like, comment, or review! I hope everyone has a nice day and a happy new year!


	3. Chapter 3

Hey, guys! Remember how I said that we would update soon? Yeah... sorry about that! We got stuck on how to end this chapter!

I'm also going to go ahead and warn you that, what with finals and EOCs coming up in the next few days, there might be another long while until the next update. But we will keep updating!

I hope you guys enjoy this chapter! Constructive criticism and reviews are always welcome!

 **~anipwrites**

* * *

Chapter 3

"Sans! It hasn't even been three weeks since we've moved here, and your room is already a _mess!_ Why can't you just clean it already?"

Sans shifted in his spot on the couch, moving his blanket off his head for a moment to tell Papyrus that he wasn't in the mood for cleaning before nestling back under it, all on top of the warm laundry. The TV hummed with voices. One particularly loud one stood out to Sans. Papyrus must have been watching _Family Feud_ while doing the chores. A _ding_ confirmed that, yes, _Family Feud_ was on the screen. Sans just sighed and curled up a bit more as he heard Papyrus' footsteps. Maybe if he lay completely still…

His patience was rewarded with another load of warm clothes being dumped onto him. Sans' eternal grin grew wider as he reveled in the heat of the clothes. He felt himself start relaxing, and before he knew it, he was dozing off. It even seemed like, for once, he'd rest peacefully…

Then, the clothes and blankets were thrown off of him. Sans cracked open his eyes to see his brother standing there. He seemed upset.

"Sans, I've been looking for you everywhere! Didn't you hear me calling you?!" Papyrus asked, arms crossed. He had a few envelopes in his hand.

"Nope…" Sans said with a yawn. "I was sleeping. What's up?"

Papyrus hesitated a moment, his irritated demeanor shifting to one full of shame. "Well… I didn't make it."

"What do you mean?"

"I… didn't get into the military. I wasn't good enough. They said they didn't want me," he sighed, shuffling his feet.

"They… wait, what? How?"

"They… sent me a rejection letter." The taller skeleton handed one of the envelopes to his brother, who took out the letter and read it. His eyes narrowed at the words on the typed page.

"You passed all the fitness tests! You broke records! How did you not _-_ Papyrus. This sentence says you would've gotten in if you weren't a monster."

"Well… I… Huh?"

"Yeah. You did very well, but they said that 'monsters can't serve in the army', and 'you did great, but [they're] not going to hire a soldier who is already dead.' What do they even mean by that?"

"I don't know, Sans…" Papyrus sniffled, wiping his eyes.

Sans sighed. He hated to see his little brother down like this, but… there wasn't really anything he could do about this.

"Hey… Pap. Y'know what? Forget the army! You don't need to be in the army to be the coolest dude ever. I hear it sucks, anyways."

"Really…?"

"Yeah. Hey, let's go explore the town. We've never gotten to see what's in this city. It's bigger than Snowdin, so we've gotta learn our way around."

"Okay, Sans…" Sans smiled at his brother and stood up, stretching.

"So, which way do you want to go?"

"How about… West?"

"Sounds cool with me, bro."

The two skeletons left the house, but not after Papyrus locked the door and turned off all the lights. Then they continued on, heading west.

The west side of town was almost just as busy as Main Street-except there were a lot more monsters and hipsters who didn't seem to care either way about the monsters. Papyrus lit up with excitement at seeing all the activity.

Sans was especially happy to find Grillby trying to get a sign onto a building.

"Hey, Grillby! Finally opening up shop?" The shorter skeleton called out. The flame-man turned his head and stepped down from the ladder he had been using after finishing up with placing a letter on the sign.

"Yes, at long last. I should be open by next Tuesday, if you're interested."

"Of course I'm interested. But… I thought you only had 20 D and 50 G left after the move."

"I did. As it turns out, gold and diamonds are worth a lot more on the Surface. Apparently, they're hard to find here. It took me a few weeks, but I finally managed to buy this place."

"Wowie! We all must be super rich, then!" Papyrus exclaimed.

"Guess so, Papyrus," Sans chuckled. Grillby smiled… Sans thought he smiled. It was kind of hard to tell with Grillby.

"So, how have you two been holding up? Everything going alright?"

"Neither of us have been able to find jobs. Nobody's a big fan of skeletons. They wouldn't even let Pap in the military."

"Really? Well, are you going to bring back your hot dog stands?" Grillby asked, crossing his arms.

"Not yet. Human and monster relations are kinda… tense. I can't just sell water sausages-might get mugged, y'know?"

"Sadly, I do know. The weather up here is bad too-there was _water_ falling from the skyjust a few days ago!"

"It's not that big of a proble-oh, yeah. Have you got a nice umbrella?"

"I do now."

"That's a good start. Want me to help you with the sign?"

"Oh, yes, if you don't mind."

Papyrus sighed and stepped aside, knowing exactly what Sans was about to do. The shorter skeleton took a good look at the sign and held out his hand. The sign trembled a bit before glowing blue and floating up to the level Grillby needed it. With a bit of drilling, it was up. The fire monster stepped down from the ladder again and thanked them.

"So… Where are you guys headed?"

"We were just exploring the town and looking for a bite to eat."

"Well, Muffet has opened a bakery just around the corner from here. Perhaps you should drop by? I hear she's lowered her prices."

"Cool. Maybe we will. Ready, Papyrus?"

"Ready!"

"Alright. See you later, alligator!" Sans waved before walking off, leaving a desperately confused Grillby staring after him. The flame monster shook his head with a sigh and went back to his work.

The two skeletons continued exploring the street until they reached a store window filled with pastries. When they rounded the corner, they saw the sign for the store-Muffet's.

"Hey _,_ look! Let's go inside!" Papyrus said, bones chattering in excitement. Sans nodded, and they headed inside.

Muffet was talking to another customer, who seemed to be excitedly looking at the different pastries under the glass and inquiring how much they cost. Sans couldn't help but notice a 'help wanted' sign on the counter beside the cash register. He chuckled and nudged Papyrus.

"Maybe you should try working here!"

Papyrus laughed. "You're funny, Sans! But I can't show off my wonderful skills as the greatest spaghettoire in a bakery! Plus, I don't even understand baking as well as I do regular cooking."

"I know. I was just teasing you."

"Oh. It's you, Sans. I see you've brought someone along with you," Muffet said, drawing their attention over to her. The customer had left without buying anything, and she seemed more than a little irritated at that.

"Hey, Muffet! I'm just here with my little brother, Papyrus."

"It's a pleasure to meet you, Papyrus! Your brother has told me lots of great things about you~."

"Has he, really?" Papyrus blushed a little. Compliments always made him feel all warm inside.

"He sure has."

"Say, Muffet, what's your best dessert here?"

"My best dessert? Well, I think _all_ of my desserts are the best! Ahuhuhu~! I do have some doughnuts that are almost ready to be taken out of the oven, so they'll be the freshest, warm and all. Why do you ask?"

"I was thinking about buying something for us."

"You were?" Muffet and Papyrus asked. Papyrus seemed a bit confused, but Muffet was the happiest Sans had ever seen her. Her five black eyes glittered with surprise, and her mouth showed a toothy smile. Sans decided to go on ahead with it-even though he knew just how high her prices tended to be.

"Sure, why not? It's all I can do in return for you giving me tips on how to successfully sell goods to a large amount of people. Monsters need to look out for each other around here, right?"

"Oh, my! Thank you, thank you, thank you~! You won't believe how bad things have been! I've lowered my prices 75% since humans don't have gold, and I still haven't sold _a single thing_ all week!"

"It might be because you're a monster, to be honest…"

"What are you saying?!"

"Well, Toriel and the crew… We all went out to get dinner, and most humans treated us oddly. Some people even thought we were abducting Frisk. This area seems nice, but most humans don't trust us."

"Oh… I guess that's why business hasn't been going very well. Should I set up my webs again?"

"I'm not sure that'll help much, but feel free to try it."

"No, no, I'll get through this. Setting up webs would only scare potential customers away. Besides, now that the spider clan is reunited, I don't need as much money as I did before. Thank you, Sans. I'll go take out the doughnuts," she smiled slightly, all of her eyes blinking at once before she went to the kitchen in the back of the bakery.

"After we get these donuts, do you think we can get ice cream, too?" Papyrus asked his brother.

"Yeah, sure. I think I've seen a map of this area-there's an ice cream parlor a few blocks from here."

"An ice cream _parlor?_ One you… _sit in?_ "

"Yeah. Why? What's the problem?"

"Well, we'll look weird, and… we always seem to leave a mess whenever we eat…" Papyrus kicked the air in front of his right foot a little and held his hands behind his back.

"Who cares? That's just how we are."

"The other people there might judge us, Sans..."

"Hm… Well, if it will make you more comfortable, we can find someplace outdoors to eat ice cream. Okay, Pap?"

The taller skeleton seemed to brighten up a bit at that.

"Okay, Sans. Thank you."

"No problem."

It was then that Muffet came back out with several trays of donuts; some were plain and glazed, and others had several different flavors and toppings on them. She set them all out on the counter.

"Here, which flavor do you want?" She asked.

"Glazed will be just fine." Sans said.

The spider woman slipped on some gloves and took two glazed donuts to give to the skeletons.

"Alright! That'll be… " she kneeled down to look at the price before standing back up. "Two dollars per donut."

"Okay! Sans, you have the wallet, right?" Papyrus asked, turning to his brother. The shorter skeleton was patting his pockets, sweating nervously. Nobody was quite sure _how_ the skeletons could sweat-they just did.

"Uh… I'll be right back." He said. His eye seemed to glow blue a moment and he vanished from sight.

Papyrus sighed. His brother's life was so much easier since he could teleport, but Papyrus had never managed to figure out how to do it. Maybe he just wasn't strong enough?

"Got it!" Sans exclaimed. Papyrus turned around to find his brother coming back in the store, holding up a leather wallet. He took out a few dollar bills and gave them to Muffet, who finished the transaction.

"There you go! Have a nice day! Please, come again~! Ahuhuhu~!" The spider monster said, waving a few of her arms at the brothers after setting down the tray of spider cider donuts. They waved back before leaving, exploring the street a bit longer.

Eventually, a few blocks away, they came across an ice cream parlor with outside seating. They decided to just sit outside-no one else was out there, and Sans' legs were tired. After all, this was the most walking he had done in a while.

When they had ordered their ice cream and sat down at an umbrella table, Sans immediately got a phone call. The two skeletons looked down at the caller ID: Toriel.

Sans' cheekbones erupted into a raging blue blush while Papyrus nudged him playfully and took the phone.

"Well, Sans? You don't want to leave her waiting! See what she has to say! And maybe you can-"

"Papyrus!" Sans whined, grabbing at the phone and answering it. "H-Hello?"

"Hello, Sans! This is Toriel! I was just thinking, and I realized that you might want a job at the school! I remember you talking about how you knew physics material pretty well..."

"What are you trying to suggest?"

"Well… Maybe you could be a teacher? I have a few science teachers already employed, but a teacher for a higher level physics course needs to know what they're doing."

"Me? A teacher? Nah, Tori, I have experience on the field, _not_ for dealing with kids. I mean, sure-I raised Papyrus, but that's different. I'd probably be better as a janitor than as a teacher. Thanks for the offer, but-"

"Oh? Well, actually, we do need a few more janitors. If you don't mind…"

"Hm… What's the pay?"

"We'd have to start you off at a decent amount above the minimum wage, but after a few months, we might be able to raise it to-"

"Sold! I'll do it. I've just gotta clean up messes and change lights, right?"

"Well… Yes, essentially."

"Sounds good. When do I start?"

"How about Friday?"

"Works for me. See you Friday."

"Perfect! Goodbye for now!"

The phone on the other line hung up. As soon as it did, Papyrus started loudly singing about Sans and Toriel sitting in a tree. Sans felt his cheekbones growing hot, hiding his head in his arms.

"Papyrus…"

"First comes love! Then comes marriage-oh! Are you guys going to get married?! That would be _adorable_!"

"Papyrus, please…"

"But, you haven't even had a first date! You have to have a date! _Then_ ,marry her!"

"But…"

"It will happen! I, the Great Papyrus, will make sure of it! I shall enlist Undyne for help on the planning and everything!"

"It's not going to happen, Papyrus!" Sans shouted suddenly, his hand clenching into a fist. "She's a very busy woman with a kid! She's not gonna want to date _me_!"

"Yes, she will! You are very cool-almost as cool as me!"

"No way, Pap. I'm nowhere near as cool as you."

"But, you are indeed the second coolest, and you are very close to my level of cool! Come! Our ice cream melts! Shall we head home?"

"... Home sounds nice. Ready to start walking?"

"Let's go!"

Before Sans knew what was happening, Papyrus had lifted him up and was carrying him under his arms. The feeling of shock subsided to peace and calm, and he could feel himself drifting…

… He blinked open his eyes, only to discover he was in his room. His blankets were nestled around him, and his room was cleaned up a bit, a heater warming up the room. Sans smiled to himself. Papyrus _was_ pretty cool. He almost didn't want to leave the bed.

Eventually, the smell of ground beef cooking and the slight din of a song on the radio brought him out of his blanket-den and to the living room. The TV was turned off now, and all the laundry was folded. Sans almost felt bad for not helping. Then, he realized he probably wouldn't have helped if he had been asked to help, either. On the radio was some peppy pop song, and Papyrus was singing along to it and dancing a bit as he cooked. Sans decided to head in there.

" _Every night! Every night is alright~!_ " Papyrus sang along with the voice on the radio. It took about a minute for Papyrus to realize Sans was there, but once he did, he seemed happy to have him there. He was also a little embarrassed to know that his brother had heard him singing and seen him dancing, so he stopped singing and turned off the radio.

"Finally awake, huh, lazybones?" He teased, nudging his older brother with his elbow. Sans chuckled and sat at the table.

"Yeah, seems so. How's the spaghetti going?"

"Fabulously, as usual! I cleaned your room for you."

"I saw. Thanks, bro."

"Not a problem!"

"Nice singing, by the way."

Papyrus blushed and stopped stirring the spaghetti he was cooking. His eyes were wide open, and his stance had stiffened. After a few moments, he cleared his throat and turned to Sans with as casual an expression as he could muster. Sans knew he was nervous-Papyrus kept his glance to the side as he spoke.

"So, you _did_ hear me singing?"

"Sure did. Can I join you?"

Papyrus couldn't believe what he was hearing.

"You want to join in?"

"Why not? It looks like you're having fun. I might have fun, too."

"Well, in that case, you are welcome to sing along! We shall make a great duo! Great enough to perform alongside the best monster singers on The Surface!" Papyrus took the wooden spoon he was stirring with a few seconds ago and rose it triumphantly into the air, looking upwards towards it in a heroic way. Sans laughed.

"Which singers are you talking about? Mettaton and Shyren?"

"Maybe…"

"They might be famous, but they have nothing on you, Pap."

"Sans… They're our friends. Besides! You mean they have nothing on _us_!" Papyrus pointed to Sans with the spoon. "We are singing _together_ , remember?"

"Yeah, yeah. I remember, Pap. Come on. Turn on the radio."

"But of course, brother of mine!"

As the radio clicked on, one song ended and transitioned into another. Papyrus knew the words right off the bat, but Sans, who didn't listen to human music much, waited until the chorus to join in. They harmonized fairly well, and, to Papyrus' surprise, having a singing partner made him feel infinite. If he really wanted to, he could sing his heart out for hours. The boost in confidence that his brother always gave him really worked wonders. As for Sans, he was content with seeing Papyrus enjoying himself. Perhaps some of the positivity was even rubbing off on him, because he began to dance a small jig next to Papyrus while snapping along to the beat of the song.

A few tracks later, the spaghetti noodles were cooked the way that Papyrus liked them, and as he drained away the water in the pot he had placed the noodles in, Sans retrieved two plates and placed them on Papyrus' side.

"Why, thank you!"

"No problem, bro."

"Sans…"

"Yeah?"

"Are you feeling well? You sang very energetically, complimented me, and now, you're helping with dinner! Did something good happen in your dreams while you were napping? Or did something else put you in a good mood?"

"I guess I'm just happy to finally be on the Surface. Walking around today and seeing Grillby setting up shop reminded me of that."

"But, of course! I should have guessed. Everyone has been feeling that way since we got here."

Sans nodded, then walked back to his seat at the table. He leaned back while holding his arms behind his head and setting his feet on the table.

"Sans! No feet on the table! I just washed it this morning."

"Aw, come on, Papyrus. I'm in a good mood."

"Well, if you're going to put your feet on the table, just don't get any dirt in the food." Papyrus said politely as he set down two plates of spaghetti with marinara sauce and meatballs on the table.

"Don't worry. I'll keep the food a few… _feet_ away."

Papyrus gave his brother an unamused glare. Sans merely winked at him in response. The spaghettoire couldn't conceal his grin any longer.

"That wasn't funny, Sans."

"It was a little funny."

"Let's just get to eating!"

Papyrus picked up a napkin from his side of the table and neatly tied it around his scarf. It was a tight fit, but it stayed in place. Sans simply set his napkin on his lap. Then, both of them simultaneously picked up their forks and took a bite at the same time. Sans hid his expression as the taste of the spaghetti registered in his mouth. Despite how "unconventional" its taste was, it was actually edible for once.

"Not bad." Sans complimented his brother.

"You flatter me too much. However! My spaghetti is always good, is it not?"

"Sure is."

They both continued eating, but while Papyrus had his gaze stuck on his plate, Sans looked up from his to check on his brother's expression.

There had never been a bigger smile on Papyrus' face before.

Right as the two brothers had consumed all of the spaghetti from their plates, the phone in the living room next to the kitchen rang.

"That must be Frisk! I shall retrieve the phone!" Papyrus offered before quickly getting up from his chair and making his way towards the phone. Sans heard the ringing stop, followed by Papyrus exchanging "hello"s with someone.

"Good day, Frisk! … Why, yes, it is actually nighttime. You are correct," Papyrus admitted, blushing a bit and scratching behind where his other ear would be. "This means I cannot greet you with a 'good day', but rather with a 'good evening'. I have made an error. Could you ever forgive me, Frisk? Even someone as great as I makes mistakes sometimes."

Three seconds later, Sans heard Papyrus give a hearty chuckle.

"Thank you, thank you! Truly, your genuine mercy makes these cheeks of mine blush. … What's that? You want to talk to Sans? Why, of course! I shall give him the receiver."

Sans sat upright involuntarily. Talking to Frisk was one of the better parts of his day, and he couldn't help but look forward to it. After Papyrus handed the phone to Sans, the shorter skeleton widened his grin and spoke into it. It made Papyrus smile as well to see his brother so content.

"Hey there, kiddo. How are you?"

"I'm really happy! Thank you for asking!" Frisk replied through the phone. The tone of their voice complemented their statement.

"That's great. I'm happy to hear that you're happy."

Frisk let out a giggle.

"Why are you laughing? What's so funny?"

"You used 'happy' twice in the same sentence, Sans! Mom told me you shouldn't use words twice in a sentence."

"Well, then, let's keep this conversation a secret between you and me."

"Okay," Frisk whispered back.

"Frisk?" Sans whispered back, going along with the child's shenanigans.

"Hmm?"

"Why are we whispering?"

"Because, you want this to be a secret conversation! We don't want anyone to hear us."

"That's pretty smart of you to think about that, Frisk."

"Thank you, Sans! You're pretty smart too for realizing what I wanted you to do without me telling you."

"What can I say?" The skeleton shrugged. "I'm a wise guy."

"Uh-huh! And since you're wise, you can guess what I'm going to do next, right?"

"I actually don't know, Frisk. What are you going to do?"

"This!" Frisk answered before the phone speaker rang with the sound of lips pressing on the other side.

"What was that, Frisk?"

"It was your goodnight kiss! Didn't you hear me say, 'mwah'?"

"I know, I know. I'm messing with you. Do you want to give Papyrus his goodnight kiss?"

"Oh, yeah! Can you give the phone to him?"

"Sure."

Sans looked up at Papyrus, who was standing near his seat. Papyrus giddily accepted the phone as Sans offered it to him, then pressed his mouth to the receiver.

"Frisk! I have given you a goodnight kiss first through the phone. Did you hear it?"

"Uh-huh! Get ready for yours, Pap!"

"Of course, without further delay."

Frisk again pressed their lips to the phone on their side.

"There! Hey, Pap? Put the phone on speaker mode for a second!"

"As you wish."

Papyrus pressed a small button on the phone, and the static of the phone conversation began to reverberate through the room.

"Goodnight, Papyrus! Goodnight, Sans! I love you both."

"We love you too, Frisk." Papyrus and Sans both responded loudly.

"Hee hee hee! I have to go now, so I'll see you later! Bye!"

The room was filled with the sound of dial-up. Sans sighed, and Papyrus left to put the phone back. When he finished, he returned to the kitchen and wiped his right eyesocket with one of his hands.

"I think I'll be going to sleep, Sans. Today was fun, but also tiring."

"That's fine, bro."

"You… will read a story for me, yes?"

"Of course, bro."

With a rush of excitement, Papyrus leapt up from his seat and made a beeline for his bedroom. Sans followed, shaking his head. His brother was all too eager to hear a story that he had already probably heard ten times. It was, according to Papyrus, "Absolutely necessary that a bedtime story is read aloud" so that he could fall asleep.

When Sans caught up to Papyrus, he was waiting eagerly by his racecar bed.

"I assume you want me to tuck you in?"

"Why, of course! Is that not part of our nightly routine?"

"I know, I know. I was just making sure."

Papyrus flopped onto his bed, causing him to lie completely flat on top of his blanket and pillows.

"You forgot to let me pull back the covers first, bro."

"Nonsense! I do not need covers. I am a skeleton!"

"But you'll be more comfortable if you have blankets on you."

"Maybe…"

"Alright, bro, let's get to reading."

"Oh, oh! Could you please read _Fluffy Bunny_ for me?"

"Sure thing. Where did you put it?"

Papyrus and Sans both glanced around the room, searching for the storybook. When they couldn't find it, Papyrus sighed and turned on his side.

"We must have left it at home… Nyoo hoo hoo…"

"We've been here for a few weeks and haven't noticed it until now?"

"Well, I was interested in all of the human bedtime stories when we first got here because I had never heard them before! We haven't read _Fluffy Bunny_ in a long time, so I wanted to hear it again tonight…"

"Don't worry, Pap. I've got this."

Sans became quiet. Then, before Papyrus knew it, Sans' left eye glowed with an intense blue before his body became light and faded away. Papyrus lay in silence, wondering where his brother had gone. Sans couldn't have teleported all the way back to their house in Snowdin, could he? That was a long distance, even for him. To Papyrus' surprise, Sans reappeared in the spot he was standing in before he left, clutching a red storybook with a white bunny on the cover in his left hand.

"Found it," Sans announced proudly. Papyrus had been right about one thing. That teleportation was an impressive feat, and Sans had been successful with it.

"Wonderful job, brother of mine! Shall we begin?" Papyrus prompted, eager to hear Sans read.

"Yeah. Let's get to it," Sans replied, then opened the book to the first page. Before Sans could get one word out, though, Papyrus gave a small cheer.

"Huzzah! It's great to have the chance to hear my third favorite story again!"

"Your 'third favorite story'? What's your second favorite?"

"Why, the story of how I met Frisk and how Frisk saved our souls, of course!"

"And your first favorite?"

"The stories you tell me about the mystery man with the broken face. I can't help but feel a bit… attached to him-so much so that I sometimes can't help but get emotional when you tell me about his adventures with you. It sometimes feels as if I know him, too…"

Papyrus' voice trailed off. Sans couldn't help but look away when Papyrus mentioned the "mystery man". If only he could remember, like Sans could. If only he could remember his own fath-

"Sans, are you sulking?" Papyrus inquired with a small frown. He hated seeing his brother upset.

"Oh, uh… No. I'm fine, Pap. C'mon, we've kept Mr. Bunny waiting too long."

"It's 'Fluffy Bunny', Sans."

"Oh, right."

As Sans began to read the story, he saw Papyrus' eyes flicker with an occasional blink. Sans hadn't even gotten halfway through the book before Papyrus gave a small snore. Shaking his head at the sight of his sleeping brother, Sans arranged the blankets around Papyrus to be more comfortable, then patted Papyrus' forehead.

"Sleep tight, bro."

Sans slowly placed the storybook on the nightstand next to Papyrus' bed, then quietly crept out of the room, closing the door behind him carefully. Though he didn't want to admit it, he was thankful Papyrus had fallen asleep so early into the story.

He couldn't focus too well on reading with that broken face in the back of his mind.

* * *

So, how did you guys like this chapter? Send us your thoughts!

Hopefully, we can get the next chapter up a bit sooner! In the meantime, have nice days and enjoy yourselves!


	4. Chapter 4

Hello again! It's been quite a long while since the last update, and we are so sorry for that! Honestly, it was a mix between writers block and sheer laziness on my (ani's) part. And now that schools started, we might have less time. However, I tend to find that I write the most during the school year in order to avoid homework, so maybe there'll be more frequent updates after all!

But enough of that. Let's get to the story! I hope you like it!

* * *

Chapter 4

After a short car ride lasting about 20 minutes, they had finally pulled up at Alphys' house. Compared to the lab, it was rather small, but it was still a reasonable size.

Monster Kid bounced excitedly in their seat when Toriel told them and Frisk that they had finally arrived. Frisk beamed and unbuckled their seatbelt before leaning over to help unbuckle Monster Kid's. Flowey, strapped into a seat belt between them for no apparent reason, glared at the arm in front of him. If he felt like it, he could bite it. It was so close. In the end, he decided not to. He wasn't in the mood for it. Plus, it would probably taste weird.

Once Frisk was finished assisting Monster Kid, they shifted over to unbuckle Flowey.

"You do realize you don't have to buckle me up, right?" The golden flower questioned. Frisk just shrugged with a giggle. Flowey sighed. "Then why do you buckle me every time?"

"Because you look cute!"

"Wh-what?! I am not cute! I am your worst nightmare! Fear me!"

"Didn't you have Frisk make you a tiny teddy bear?" Toriel asked with a smile.

"Mister Sniffles is second in command in my army of darkness!"

"Let's go inside!" Frisk hugged the pot to their body as they ran up to the doorstep and rang the doorbell.

It took a few minutes, but Alphys eventually answered. She was wearing a black tank top and jean shorts. As soon as she saw the visitors, her glasses fogged up.

"O-oh! M-Miss Toriel! I completely forgot you were coming, I-I'm so sorry!" She stammered, taking her glasses off to clean them on her shirt.

"Oh, no worries, dear!" The Boss Monster smiled in return. Monster Kid hopped around a bit.

"Hi, 'coz!"

"Oh! Hi, Kid!" She gave the smaller monster a hug before looking back up at everyone. "Let's head on inside!"

Frisk giggled and ran in the house. Monster Kid follower them in, while Toriel stayed at the door with Alphys.

Undyne was asleep on the couch, also in a tank top and shorts. The frills on her head twitched as she dreamed. Frisk giggled before a sudden mischievous grin graced their features.

"I have an idea!" Frisk whispered. Flowey groaned.

"You're going to die…"

Frisk, however, didn't seem to care. They shrugged it off with a simple 'Undyne knows who I am' before backing out of the front door all the way to where Toriel had parked her car…

"What are you doing, child?" Toriel asked curiously, looking up from her conversation with Alphys.

" _Undyne!_ " The child screamed, charging back inside before tackle-hugging the sleeping fish-lady. Alphys paled noticeably.

"Uh-oh…"

Undyne shot awake, an energy spear forming in her hand as if she was prepared to kill her opponent. Frisk managed to impressively dodge every attack. They knew Undyne was still half-asleep. She probably didn't realize it was them.

And indeed, the battle only lasted about twenty seconds before the spears all disappeared as Undyne rubbed her eyes. When she realized what she had done, she seemed… ticked off.

"Frisk! Get over here, punk!" She shouted, grabbing the little kid and giving them a few noogies. "Don't do that ever again, I might hurt you on accident!"

Frisk managed to get out an 'okay' through a fit of giggles. Undyne wasn't angry, just worried.

"Hi, Undyne!" Monster Kid greeted. Undyne looked over with a broad smile.

"Heya, Kid!"

"Is everyone okay?" Toriel said, finally coming in to see all of the broken… everything.

"It's all a-okay, Your Majesty!" Undyne said with a nervous chuckle. With a sheepish scratch of her head, she added, "Frisk kinda surprised me for a second there. I promise it won't happen again."

"Alright. Frisk, you need to be more careful. I know you're glad to see your friends, but…"

"Yes, Mom! I'll be careful!" The human child said with an obedient nod. They then turned to Undyne. "Let's go outside!"

"Yeah, sure! I'll take you kiddos on a walk, since you seem to have so much energy-that is, if you don't mind, Your Majes-"

"Oh, Undyne, you can just call me Toriel. I'm no longer the Queen of the Underground, and I haven't been for quite a while. I don't mind at all if you take the children out for a walk! Alphys and I just have to finish up with a few papers so she can start teaching at my school."

"Ooh! I wanna be a teacher! Teaching kids… Kiddo stuff! I'd be the best teacher! Ngaaaah!" Undyne declared passionately. The thought of instilling her own fighting spirit into so many students made her feel so pumped.

"Maybe she could be a gym teacher?" Alphys whispered with a slight blush.

"Perhaps! Undyne, would you like to be the-"

"NGAAAAAAAAAAAAAAH!"

"... I'll take that as a 'yes'?" Toriel confirmed, shaking her head.

Alphys giggled as her girlfriend picked up the two children up and ran out the door with them.

Eventually, a few blocks down, Undyne stopped running. Running got a lot more tiring when carrying people. Plus, this was supposed to be a _walk._ She set the two kids down, and they walked a bit.

"You're so strong, Undyne!" Monster Kid breathed.

"You know it, kid!" She laughed, flexing a few muscles. Then, her smiling face changed to a small frown. "But, really, what are you dorks doing out of school so early? Doesn't it end at 2:30?"

"2:45! But we got out early!" Frisk said.

"Why?"

"Because we had a really mean teacher and she didn't like monsters and so she quit and-" Monster Kid began to explain.

"Where is she?! I'll pummel her to the ground!" Undyne held a fist up in front of her and shook her head.

"We don't know. But please, don't beat her up! Just because she was mean to us doesn't mean she deserves to get beat up…" Frisk implored quietly.

"Yeah! Don't beat her up! _Kill her instead!_ " Flowey added from inside Frisk's backpack. The back zipper was open this time, since the golden flower had complained of it being stuffy in there.

"Flowey, no!" Frisk objected.

"Flowey, yes!" Flowey replied, grinning at the sheer thought of getting revenge on Miss Annie.

Undyne heaved a heavy sigh. "Nah, I won't kill her or beat her up. Still, I just don't understand why every other human up on the Surface is such a huge dickwad-whether it's accusations or bullying or just… staring… It's so aggravating!"

"Maybe they're still getting used to us?" Monster Kid asked.

"Maybe. But they need to stop being such jerks about it! Stupid humans-well, I mean, not _all_ humans, you little mite!" Undyne ruffled Frisk's hair before lifting them up onto her shoulders. Frisk couldn't help but let out a little giggle.

"I'm sure that once everyone realizes you're all very nice, they'll be nice too! I was scared when I first fell into the Underground too, and they're kind of feeling the same thing… I'm sure they'll warm up eventually!"

"They'd better. I don't want to see what would happen if there was another Monster-Human War."

Monster Kid seemed to tense at the mention of the War. Every monster knew about the war, had heard testimonies from veterans of the war, had read the tales and legends passed down about it… Even if they hadn't actually been alive to experience it, they could all feel the pain. It was almost unexplainable.

"I won't let that happen!" Frisk declared, jumping up and down. As the ambassador for Monsters to the human race, it was kind of their responsibility. Knowing they were the only hope for humans and monsters… "I'll defend you guys!"

"Awesome, Frisk! Right on! Hey, you guys wanna head back? Alphys might be finishing up. Then, we could watch anime or something," Undyne suggested.

"Okay! Cool!" Frisk and Monster Kid exclaimed. Flowey let out a drawn-out groan.

"Sweet! Let's go!" With a loud 'Ngaaaaaah', Undyne picked the two kids up on her shoulders and carried them back towards the house, deciding to walk this time. Frisk took this time to hold Flowey's pot with one hand and observe Undyne's head frills with the other. After a bit of petting, Undyne turned to look at them.

"Are you touching my frills, kiddo?"

"Yeah,"

"That tickles."

"Okay, I'll stop." Frisk shifted their focus to staying balanced on Undyne's shoulder.

When they got back to Alphys' house, Undyne set them down before opening the door. Alphys and Toriel were sitting at a table, discussing the curriculum for the class. They turned and smiled as the group of kids, flower, and fish warrior walked in.

"You all have finished your walk?" Toriel asked.

"Yeah! I carried them all the way back, too! I bet I could've carried _six_ kids!" Undyne boasted, flexing her muscles. Flowey scoffed and rolled his eyes.

"You're so strong, Undyne!" Monster Kid said as they hopped up and down.

"Yes, very," Toriel added. "If you were still interested in being a gym teacher, Alphys and I are almost done with her papers. We can start filling some out for y-"

"Oh, yeah, sure! Let's get started!" Undyne agreed, her eyebrows pressed in on her eyes in anticipation.

"Alright! Here, have a seat."

Undyne pulled up a chair and sat as Toriel started setting out papers for her, quietly discussing what each one was for. Alphys finished signing a few papers before going over to the couch, with Monster Kid and Frisk following close behind. Once they were all sitting, Alphys sifted through the pile of anime DVDs before popping Mew Mew Kissy Cutie into her DVD player.

After the anime was done, Toriel was finally done with the paperwork, and it was time to drop off Monster Kid. From there, she, Frisk, and Flowey drove home.

While they were in the car, Frisk began reading one of the books packed into their backpack. They couldn't help but overhear Toriel make a call-especially when they recognized who she was talking to on the car's speaker.

"Hello, Sans!" Toriel greeted with a smile. "This is Toriel! I was just thinking, and I realized that you might want a job at the school! I remember you talking about how you knew physics material pretty well…"

"What are you trying to suggest?"

"Well… Maybe you could be a teacher? I have a few science teachers already employed, but a teacher for a higher level physics course needs to know what they're doing."

Frisk's head shot up from their book in interest. Sans? A teacher at their school? They didn't know what 'physics' were, but it would be fun to have him at the school!

Flowey scoffed. "Ew, that smiley trash bag is on the phone?"

"Flowey…" Frisk scolded, not too loudly so they could still hear the conversation.

"Me? A teacher? Nah, Tori, I have experience on the field, _not_ for dealing with kids. I mean, sure-I raised Papyrus, but that's different. I'd probably be better as a _janitor_ than a teacher. Thanks for the offer, but-"

Toriel seemed crestfallen for a moment until she suddenly came up with an idea. "Oh? Well, actually, we do need a few more janitors. If you don't mind…"

"Hm… What's the pay?"

"We'd have to start you off at a decent amount above the minimum wage, but after a few months, we might be able to raise it to-"

"Sold! I'll do it. I've just gotta clean up messes and change lights, right?"

"Well… Yes, essentially."

Frisk beamed, looking to Flowey in excitement. The golden flower seemed… less than thrilled.

"Sounds good. When do I start?"

"How about Friday?"

"Works for me. See you Friday."

"Perfect! Goodbye for now!" Toriel pressed a button on the side of the steering wheel and the call ended.

"Hey, Mom?" Frisk asked.

"Yes, dear?"

"When are you going to marry Sans?"

Toriel's face erupted into a blush.

"F-Frisk, I don't think we're going to get married! All I've done is hire him to work at the school, not ask him on a date!"

"You shouldask him on a date!"

Toriel chuckled. "Sweetheart, I appreciate this, but honestly? I'm just a little old lady who worries too much. He could find much better than me,"

"But he _totally_ digs you!" Frisk exclaimed, excited about the thought of having Sans as a father and Papyrus as an uncle. Couldn't their mother see how much Sans appreciated her and cared about her?

"Well… Maybe one day," Toriel smiled slightly, but tried not to let Frisk see it as she drove. Frisk waggled their eyebrows at Flowey, who just groaned.

When they finally got home, Frisk didn't have any homework. They read their books for a little while until that got boring, then they found some cartoons on TV. Somehow, they ended up watching a series of shows on MTT Networks until Toriel found them and said it was about time to head to bed. They hadn't even realized it was nighttime-they were so absorbed into the show!

"Wait, Mom! I have to say goodnight to Sans and Papyrus. I promised them I would every night!" Frisk said, jumping up from the couch and running to the table where the house phone was kept. It took a moment to remember the correct number, but once Frisk did, they excitedly dialed it in.

After a few rings, the receiver was picked up by Papyrus. "Hello?"

"Hi, Papyrus!" Frisk greeted.

"Good day, Frisk!"

Frisk couldn't help but giggle. "But, Papyrus! It's night!"

"Oh? Why, yes, it is actually nighttime! You are correct! This means I cannot greet you with a 'Good day', but rather with a 'Good evening'. I have made an error. Could you ever forgive me, Frisk? Even someone as great as I makes mistakes sometimes!"

Another giggle escaped them. "Of course I can!"

"Thank you, thank you! Truly, your genuine mercy makes these cheeks of mine blush!"

"Hey, Pap? Can I talk to Sans?"

"What's that? You want to talk to Sans? Why, of course! I shall give him the receiver."

Frisk beamed and tottered excitedly in place for a while as they heard footsteps over the phone. A moment later, there was a new voice coming through the speaker. "Hey there, kiddo. How are you?"

"I'm really happy! Thank you for asking!"

"That's great. I'm happy to hear that you're happy."

Frisk couldn't help but giggle again.

"Why are you laughing? What's so funny?"

"You used 'happy' twice in the same sentence, Sans! Mom told me you shouldn't use words twice in a sentence."

"Well, then, let's keep this conversation a secret between you and me."

"Okay," Frisk whispered.

"Frisk?" Sans whispered back.

"Hmm?"

"Why are we whispering?"

"Because, you want this to be a secret conversation! We don't want anyone to hear us."

"That's pretty smart of you to think about that, Frisk."

"Thank you, Sans! You're pretty smart too for realizing what I wanted you to do without me telling you."

"What can I say? I'm a wise guy."

"Uh-huh! And since you're wise, you can guess what I'm going to do next, right?" Frisk shifted excitedly, phone still in their hands. Toriel was sitting at the table behind them, smiling. Flowey was on the table as well, being fed a slice of pie bit by bit.

"I actually don't know, Frisk. What are you going to do?"

"This!" Frisk pressed their lips to the receiver. "Mwah!"

They could almost feel Flowey rolling his eyes, but they ignored it.

"What was that, Frisk?"

Something in Sans' voice told them that he already knew what it was, but Frisk decided to explain anyway.

"It was your goodnight kiss! Didn't you hear me say 'mwah'?"

"I know, I know. I'm messing with you. Do you want to give Papyrus his goodnight kiss?"

"Oh, yeah! Can you give the phone to him?"

"Sure."

There was a rustling on the other end as the phone switched hands before Papyrus gave Frisk a goodnight kiss with a 'Mwah!'

"Frisk! I have given you a goodnight kiss through the phone! Did you hear it?"

"Uh-huh! Get ready for yours, Pap!"

"Of course, without further delay!"

"Mwah!"

Flowey groaned, but he was ignored again.

"There! Hey, Pap? Put the phone on speaker for a second!"

"As you wish!"

A split second later, Frisk could hear the background noise of the house and could tell that they were on speaker mode.

"Goodnight, Papyrus! Goodnight, Sans! I love you both."

"We love you too, Frisk!" Papyrus and Sans both responded.

"Hee hee hee! I have to go now, so I'll see you later! Bye!" Frisk placed the phone back on its little way station before going to give Toriel a hug and a kiss on the cheek.

"Goodnight, Mom! I love you!"

Toriel returned the favor. "I love you too, Frisk."

Flowey was still munching on some pie in silent annoyance. Frisk quickly leaned over and gave him a kiss on the cheek. He recoiled once he realized what was happening, but it was too late. Frisk picked up Flowey's pot and hugged it to their chest.

"I love you, Flowey!"

"Frisk, stop it!" Flowey whined. Frisk just carried them off to their room before setting them on the nightstand.

Frisk placed Flowey's little teddy bear beside his stem before flopping on the bed, flipping the covers over them. They turned the lamp on their nightstand off and lay down.

"Goodnight, Flowey,"

"Goodnight, Frisk…"

* * *

There's the latest chapter!

I'd like to point out in the story that when they say 2:30 and 2:45 PM, this means 14:30 and 14:45 international time.

My tumblr username is **anipwrites**

My friend's tumblr username is **105ttt**

Feel free to favorite, follow, or leave a review as always! I hope you all have a wonderful day! Thanks for reading!

 **~anipwrites**


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